Lost One
by Little Kunai
Summary: Duo as he is now called, was shipped off into space not remembering who he was or where he came from, he finds himself embroiled in the Robot Wars but it seems Primus has a different path in mind for his unique abilities.
1. Prologue

**Lost One**

**Disclaimer:**

**Megaman Characters are owned by Capcom **

**Transformer Characters are owned by Hasbro**

**I am not making any money **

**this is just for entertainment**

**Prologue **

* * *

Sunstorm stared at the group of Autobot prisoners huddled in their cells, his optics landed on one in particular and the sense of detachment was slowly being replaced by that otherworldly sense of a being much higher then himself.

Primus made this one different, special. His abilities were like no other Cybertronian that had ever existed before or since. The full extent was neither known nor realized and Megatron wanted him forcibly converted…but Primus himself seemed to have bigger plans and Sunstorm, above all else followed Primus, Megatron's wishes were secondary, sometimes even non-existent when Primus himself called.

Megatron and the Decepticons had been necessary to disrupt the stagnant, uncaring caste system on Cybertron and bring about a new age of equality, but power had gone to his head and even though the tyrannical Decepticon lord did not realize it, his usefulness had all but passed in the greater scheme of things.

This one, was not remarkable at first glance, not with the hideous hodgepodge of clashing colors and different parts, as though he'd been carelessly put together by amateurish creators and he had been assigned as a construction bot shortly before the war, with his too large hand and helmet covering his head and his immense strength and reassigned as a shock trooper when war at last broke out, but despite being newer to the world there was an unshakeable calm in his eyes, a wisdom beyond his vorns. This one was far too important to die like some nameless grunt in the trenches.

He didn't know why, only that he must keep him out of Megatron's grasp until Primus saw fit to recall him for whatever purpose he'd been chosen for. So it was with quiet resolution that he took the prisoner to an out of the way lab.

Few Decepticons were ever truly forced unless Megatron decided they were too valuable to kill, most were eager to join the cause and throw off the yoke of caste and rank to make something better for themselves. But not this one.

He went to work, carefully reconstructing memory banks to make it seem like he had been stripped of personal memory, masterfully hiding it within encrypted files and heavy scrambled coding. Surely Primus would find a way to make him remember again. He was sure of it, the memory for abilities and basic functions were not touched, the mutable pathways for programming potential were widened, the ability to learn and adapt enhanced, his personality left intact. The new Autobot symbol scoured off and he received a slightly new paint job, not enough to drastically change his appearance, but enough to make him less recognizable, the blue was lighter, nearly greenish, he'd once heard it called cyan, to cover the royal navy.

He reformatted the helmet to fit over one blue optic, the other replaced with red, he added small amounts of a fast rusting formula here and there to make him appear older and more battered then he was and stripped the white armor off the larger hand to it's skeletal structure.

When Sunstorm finished with his little "masterpiece" he waited until there was an opportune time to ship him drifting aimlessly in space. When Duo awoke he would be disoriented, amnesiatic and a little stiff and rusty and with Primus' luck far enough away from Cybertron that he would escape becoming a Decepticon drone.

He would eventually be found by scientists on an island planet called Earth in the year 20XX and accomplish many great feats, while participating in the planet's 8th Robotic War. For a while he would believe that he was Earth-built, though his spark would tell him otherwise and would finally begin to follow that incomprehensible calling deep within right around the time when the Maverick Wars began. Though he would always be close to monitor that particular atrocity called the Sigma Virus.


	2. Chapter One

**Lost One**

**Chapter One**

**Disclaimer**

**I've never played Mega Man 8 so sorry if I screwed things up. **

**This also ties in slightly to my **

**other Transformers/Mega Man fic Omega.**

* * *

He had been lost in space for a long, long time, without name, identity, memory and home. Sometimes he landed on planets and found fuel, surprised that he could make pink glowing liquids out of almost anything, but those planets with resources were few and far between.

The natives when he did find them tended to shun him and so he would finish his business quickly and leave them alone, others fired weapons wanting him to get out and since so many of his systems were in the red, he was forced to shut them down. Translating programs included, he had no one and space was lonely. He was lonely, he felt that he'd never been a very social being, but everyone needs company now and then.

He drifted more now, floating in and out of consciousness. It had been a long time since he'd had anything to eat and while he knew that he could return to one of those planets that had resources and stay, something whispered, driving him forward. He clearly wanted to find his people, who or what were they? What was he? Where were they? But there was that little voice in his head that knew he was supposed to be searching for something terrible, more nameless then his own origins. It would all come together, but he was so weary.

What did a little voice know? He wondered bitterly. Surely it was nothing but a product of his broken, lonely mind. Still he pushed on, searching.

He eventually found himself close by a blue and green planet, marbled by white clouds and reddish patches, the area was heavily populated and resource rich, he knew that the natives wouldn't welcome him, but if he didn't eat soon, he'd die. He flew towards it long enough to let gravity do the rest of the work and then the unthinkable! Something hit him in the head, wrecking what fragmented memories he'd managed to build up and he heard maniacal laughter.

"Die Neutral coward!"

His deprived systems couldn't take the abuse and he blacked out.

* * *

When he came around, his tank was full, his injuries were gone, his paint renewed, all his systems were in the green and there was a new system installed. He checked, it was called the copy system and it integrated into his existing systems so perfectly that it seemed as if it were always meant to be there.

The kindly natives who helped him were a human named Dr. Light and his android children Mega Man and Roll.

His memories were all but gone now. The ravages of time, lack of proper maintenance and the shot to the head by some mysterious robot, (maybe one of Dr. Wily's?) had done his memory banks in.

But that unknown purpose drove him on and he discovered that he had a strong affinity for justice. He joined a robot police force, found friends and helped to defeat terrible enemies. For the first time in a long time, Duo as he was named, for his mismatched appearance felt happy.

Dr. Wily was so cruel, so driven by power, it reminded him of someone else, but he could not place it. Mega Man he had misunderstood but they became great allies, Bass confused him and perhaps the black and gold robot even confused himself. He did not know, but he grew healthy and strong on that planet, made new memories for himself and was a great ally.

No one knew where he came from, some speculated that he was an old government project that had been left in space and forgotten, some thought Dr. Cossack built him but was forbidden from claiming him as his work, others said he was an alien from outer space, but they were quickly shot down, given that the planet was full of advanced, semi-sentient androids.

To Duo any of those theories were a possibility and he took them in stride.

It was only after Dr. Light left this world and all his robot friends were dead that he took leave, though he stayed nearby.

Granted he had the ability to purge evil energy, but the Maverick Virus was something that even he wasn't sure he could cleanse without becoming infected himself and the speed with which it destroyed older models and ravaged the mind and personality of any Reploid frightened him far more then he let on.

It was several years into the Maverick Wars that he first discovered a being like himself.

* * *

The originator of the terrible virus had been shot off into space, put inside a large robot body a little bigger then his.

Two robots were moving closer to the body, talking to each other in a language that sounded familiar, but that he didn't recognize.

"I…would not touch him."

Hound and Wheeljack spun around, startled at the sight of a Cybertronian, about ten feet tall, with red, blue and silver armor and haunted optics that were nothing like there own, he had pupils and white sclera like the humans they used to know.

Come to think of it, he was awfully close to Earth too, even though they had left the planet ages ago. He also spoke in the Earth Dialect English.

Duo hoped they understood him.

"We won't hurt your friend." Hound said soothingly, as he quickly scanned him for a sign of alliance.

There was none. A Neutral that had fled Cybertron.

The strange robot wrinkled his face in disgust, a human gesture and Wheeljack wondered if any Neutrals had decided to make Earth their home since they'd gone and started rebuilding on a small, lonely planet they'd found when they discovered they couldn't take back Cybertron.

No other occupied planet wanted them to bring Decepticons to their home and the Cybertronians were now universally known as destructive leeches and Optimus Prime refused to lead anymore Cybertronians to Earth, despite the warm welcome and rich resources. He would not allow such a wonderful planet to die that way.

"He is not my friend. Please back away, he carries a terrible virus that has no cure known cure." There was a note of muted horror in his strange optics.

The Autobots backed away quickly.

"What kinda virus?" The inventor asked.

"It's something like robot rabies, it destroys the personality, integrity and reason of any sentient robot and boosts aggression and battle programming. In the end you are left with a reploi-err robot," he amended when he saw their confused looks, "whose only desire is to destroy and infect everything around them. Older models will die painfully."

"Who are you and where do you come from?" Hound finally asked.

"My name is Duo, I'm from Earth, an island planet in the-"

"We know where Earth is. Nice place." Wheeljack interrupted, glancing nervously at the infected Decepticon.

"You know we're constructing a colony on a planet a galaxy over if your looking for the Autobots."

"Autobots?" His face showed confusion, his heart felt a pang of recognition.

"Yeah you know the Autobots. You're a Neutral right?" Hound asked brightly.

"I…" Duo seemed lost.

"Oh boy, we'd better get you to our CMO for a check-up, who knows what kinda scrap is jacking up your processor."

Confused and excited about finding someone who felt more like him, (the robots and reploids had always felt different from him somehow) Duo allowed them to lead him back to their ship. The little voice inside emanated a feeling of rightness. This was where he was supposed to be right now. He obeyed.

* * *

Energon, Duo decided, had an odd taste, he had lived on the culinary delights of Earth's advanced robotic food for many years, but he was not a rude robot and he accepted it without complaint as someone called Ratchet checked, fussed and growled over him. He privately felt that the gruff CMO's bedside manner left much to be desired in comparison to Auto's or Dr. Light's, but the medic's bluster abated when he proved himself to be a model patient. The trio were put into isolation for a while, in case they'd picked up the Maverick Virus, as the newcomer called it. When it was 100 % certain that they weren't going to go "Maverick" they were let out and headed to the planet that would become Duo's new home.


	3. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

**Author's Note:**

**Duo's Copy System is going to be modeled after **

**both the game's and the cartoon's. It will be automatic if he ever kills an enemy, it will be optional if he doesn't. **

"So you can't remember anything before you landed on Earth?" Ratchet asked.

"Not your name, what part of Cybertron you came from? What systems you passed through? Nothing?"

"No, I did know that Cybertron even existed. I only remember my time on Earth and that the other robots never felt exactly like me. I never found out who shot me. I used to think it was one of Dr. Wily's robot masters, or the robot of some other high tech criminal, but now that I've met all of you I'm not so sure."

His strange, human-like eyes were troubled.

"Well your situation isn't unique, a lot of fugitives suffer from system degradation. We're still trying to figure out who you are."

No easy task since the Decepticons had a death-grip on Cybertron.

Ratchet looked over his files again. His physiology was unique, he didn't feel quite like a Cybertronian anymore and his armor was weaker since earthen components had been added to it. The metal was weaker, the memory core, while more advanced then he'd expected, was still inferior to their own. He could fix it, but that kind of surgery was tricky and only reserved for dire cases, inferior technology didn't count.

There were other strange systems that Duo had that he was interested in checking out. His alt-mode, whatever it had been, was locked because the T-cog was trashed. Duo didn't even seem to know what an alt-mode was, or that he'd ever had one. They'd hafta get that fixed soon. He even had thrusters like a Decepticon. When he asked where he'd gotten them, he'd replied.

"Dr. Light built them for me."

Ratchet hummed thoughtfully.

"You say you were an international police officer on Earth?"

"Yes. My built-in translator and weapon system made it an ideal job. "

"Well your fighting days are over. If a Decepticon shows up, your slag." Ratchet warned and began pointing out the weaknesses in his armor.

"All things must die eventually."

Duo shrugged, while he certainly didn't want to die, he was more used to the concept then most Cybertronians were. It was true they were used to the idea of death because of the dwindling war, or starvation, but the concept of just dying one day, the way so many organic aliens were used to was still very uncomfortable to them. Cybertronians never died of old age.

Ratchet huffed, "Well I'd prefer if you didn't let all my hard work go to waste cause of stupidity."

Duo didn't know how to respond.

Wheeljack questioned him about the glass-like panels in his armor.

"They are meant to gather solar energy, all of Dr. Light's robots were built with them."

Since they were in a solar system it was good news for the Cybertronians living there, especially since it had been integrated into his systems so flawlessly.

A back up energy system was something they _should _have thought about adding vorns ago. It was a little embarrassing that humans had figured it out first. Wheeljack and Ratchet both had asked for a blueprint of Duo's solar powered cells energy systems and began working on implementing them into other Cybertronians systems immediately.

Duo seemed very quiet and solemn and the Cybertronians onboard the little ship wondered what his life must have been like before he'd landed on Earth.

Hound befriended him and Wheeljack's interest in both Earth technology and Cybertronian technology kept his mind, (processor) he reminded himself, occupied.

"Here it is, home sweet home." Hound sang out one morning.

Duo looked. It was a strange planet with rocky, dark-blue green terrain and had rings like Saturn, he wondered how big Cybertron was if they considered it small, since this planet seemed to be somewhere roughly the size of Jupiter, perhaps a bit smaller.

It was far enough away from the sun that it wouldn't burn, but not close enough to catch its light all the time. As they entered the atmosphere it was still dark and Duo suddenly felt homesick for Earth.

There was no bird song as they pulled into the loading bay, no plants, no water, no people mingling with robots as they went about their day-to-day business, despite all the Cybertronians running around, this place still felt…desolate somehow.

Perhaps it was because he had been conditioned to believe that robots were not alive as other things were alive, Dr. Light had believed otherwise and treated each as a person more then he did a tool, but he had been in a very small minority. The lack of life here seemed depressing.

Optimus Prime was ready to greet the new mech. He knew of the perils of system degradation, but he'd never heard of a Cybertronian not knowing what they were or being unaware that they could even transform, that was something that was coding deep and even Cybertronians who had had their memory permanently erased had never forgotten such things. It worried him.

When the strange, red and cyan mech stepped out of the ship, Optimus frowned as something tugged at his memory banks. He was almost certain he'd seen him before, the color scheme seemed familiar but wrong.

Granted it was sometimes difficult to keep track of someone because so many color schemes were similar to one another and he didn't feel like he had known him on Cybertron, but he _had _seen him. The question was where?

Optimus welcomed Duo with open arms.

He learned that that the population was a little over a thousand on the planet and it was slowly growing as they found more refugees in need of a home.

They got him settled in quickly.

"I know it's not much, but its home." Bumblebee prattled. "We're building more homes for bots to live in and we could always use a helping hand.

"I don't know anything about building homes, but I would be glad to help." Duo said.

It turned out that the new bot had a knack for construction work, he learned so quickly that it made Optimus believes he had once been a construction bot.

Despite Ratchet's warnings about his weaker armor, Duo was also introduced to Prowl and resumed his work as a police bot. While they didn't have the kinds of problems Duo had been used to on Earth, there were still problems and many a mech found that weaker armor or not, Duo was not a pushover. He was strict but just.

His Comet Attack was a force to be reckoned with, he was no slouch at delivering a devastating blow with his massive fist and short bursts of speed could carry him out of range from the punishing blow of another.

But it was Sunstreaker who got the first taste of his Copy Weapons System. There was something in the twins that reminded Duo of Bass just a little, the memory of the Wily bot prompting him to use it as he grabbed his arm.

Information rushed through his mind, being stored in one of the empty slots, his systems and circuitry modifying and adapting to his other arm.

Duo had always made a strange sound when he used the Copy System and had endured some good-natured teasing from his colleagues on Earth, but here it was normal.

Sunstreaker gaped at the strange sensation of something draining away like a flood of water.

When it was complete he checked himself and realized that his weapon had not only powered down, but vanished completely.

"What the frag did you do to me you junkyard reject?"

His twin had felt it too and was just as confused.

Duo wasted no time explaining, he knew that even without their weapons, they were a formidable pair and were much more agile then he was.

His arm transformed.

Sunstreaker was livid, Sideswipe instantly protective.

"You slag-sucking son of a two cred-pleasure bot! You stole my weapon!"

They attacked together.

This was the kind of insult Duo was used to as they came near. He unleashed his Comet Pound, sending a devastating shockwave in his wake. The twins agility carried them to safety but only just.

He utilized his new weapon and forced them back, of course the twins quickly realized the flaw in the strange ability. The weapon would always be better utilized in the hands of the original owner and if not for the rest of the Enforcer Team, it would have gone hard with Duo. The twins were not to be taken lightly.

"I don't give a frag what rules you think we broke Prowl!" Sunstreaker growled. "That freak stole my weapon and I want it back!"

"Yeah, go toss him in the brig." Sideswipe added sourly. Still trying to figure out how the new bot had done it.

After they had cooled their heels in the brig, Ratchet came to inspect Sunstreaker's claim. He wouldn't have believed the outlandish story if it weren't for Prowl and several of the other Enforcers witnessing the unusual phenomena for themselves.

It was strange, the weapon hadn't been short circuited and after running a test on Duo, he found that part of Sunstreaker's coding was in his arm and processor.

"How did you do that?" Prowl had been puzzling over this the hardest.

"It's the Copy Weapons System, there were only a few robots on Earth who were built with it, Dr. Light and Roll installed it when they found me. It's a useful system when you're subduing robot criminals."

"How does it work?" Wheeljack was clearly excited about it.

Duo frowned, he had never really questioned it before, he simply did it, it was as natural for him as it had been for Mega Man.

"I don't know. That knowledge has been lost with its creators."

"Can it be given back?" Prowl asked.

That had never occurred to Duo either, a defeated robot master was either destroyed or they had to wait for their creator to reinstall their programming.

"I've never done that before. He may have to have it reinstalled." He suggested.

There was a collective blink and Duo realized too late that he had made another social snafu, by treating his fellow Cybertronians as machines and not living beings.

Withholding a sigh he turned on his heel and marched down the corridor towards the brig.

Inside the cell he cupped his hands around Sunstreaker's head and tried to access his own programming.

Sideswipe hovered protectively.

"Get the frag off me you-"

"Be calm." Duo reprimanded quietly.

Once he had accessed the golden frontliner's weapon, he sent a query, as if asking him if he wanted the program installed.

Sunstreaker wasn't sure whether to be insulted by being treated like a primitive computer or relieved to get his weapon returned. Either way, he'd never forget this and neither would his twin. He accepted the "prompt" and felt a reverse-rush of everything that had happened earlier. He still had no idea how this Earth-built freak had done it but when they got their hands on Duo, he'd be in for a world of hurt.

"Well?" Ratchet asked.

It was in perfect working order.

Wheeljack was ecstatic.

"That's science in the making! Bet the original creator never thought his tech could work like that huh? Let's find a volunteer and try it again, we can hook you up to the scanners and see what happens. Maybe we can install it on someone else! I'd love to see the look on Star Scream's face when he gets his Null Ray stolen!"

Duo had always been very protective over his programming, he knew that the Copy System in the wrong hands could be a terrible thing.

"I think," Ratchet warned, "that that's enough for the day. He is _not _your lab rat."

"But-" Ratchet gave him his most threatening look.

Wheeljack backed down, audial fins flushing pink in embarrassment.

* * *

**Author:**

**Poor Duo, he just doesn't seem to quite fit in with his own people**

**Even those who had once been to Earth.**

**He just can't catch a break can he?**


End file.
